'Celebrity Apprentice': 'Ahab's In Charge, And He's Gone Mad' recap

Brande might have left The Celebrity Apprentice last week, but there's not much time to grieve! Jon's really touched that she was loyal to him to the end, and now he wants to win for good old Team Power. But Lisa is not happy that she still has to work with Gary... she thinks she and Penn will be doing all of the work! Gary's currently wandering around the suite making strange noises but will he pull it together in the task?

But what is that task? Well, Joan Rivers is here to help out Donald, who informs the teams that they'll be creating a 90 second video to promote LG home appliances and phones. They'll be judged on creativity, integration of product knowledge and the overall presentation, and the winning team will get $40,000 for their charity, plus $1 for each share of the video on Facebook (up to $35,000). Without further ado, it's time to choose the project managers - Lil Jon for Power, and Gary for Plan B.

Penn's pretty excited about this task since he loves technology, and he thinks Gary will be able to use him well. As for Gary, he really wants to make some money for his charity. But when they get to the studio, some LG techies come to teach the team about the products and Gary just can't really grasp it all, begging the guy to slow down. In the end, he actually just wanders off and sits on the studio, not even trying to pretend to understand the fancy refrigerator. And then talks to camera about cats coming out of the closet on Halloween, or something (yeah, me neither.)

Anyway, James the exec comes to visit to give the team some more ideas about what LG want, and Gary starts telling us about spontaneity (you have to be "clear, vulnerable and open", apparently - oo-er.) Unfortunately, Gary is not open to Penn or Lisa's ideas (I actually think Lisa's idea of a 1950s family arriving in today's world is pretty good). Instead, he hushes them up before they even get to finish their thoughts. They are understandably not too pleased about that. Instead, Gary gets fixated on the idea of a "mechanical dog" and starts barking like he's puking. It's all very strange. "He is literally barking mad," Penn sighs.

To be honest, though, while Penn and Lisa are not at all happy with this idea there's not much they can do about it because Gary won't listen to them - even when they expres their concerns. In fact, when Lisa complains that Gary doesn't want her input he gets annoyed, telling her not to yell at him or treat him like an idiot. Actually, Gary thinks that Penn and Lisa are sort of abandoning him (he uses the analogy of a cake with ingredients refusing to get mixed in.) Lisa eventually makes nice with Gary, though, even though it takes a little while as he accuses her of interrupting him and confronting him "viciously". "Gary is bats**t crazy," she declares later.

The team eventually manage to sort out a script by following Gary around the studio and making notes ("Maybe this is so creative and outside the box that the LG execs will go, 'This is fab!'" Lisa whimpers sadly.) Actually, when Penn and Lisa get to the 'mechanical' dog bit so loved by Gary they end up crying with laughter. And I have to confess that no matter how many times I see Gary vom-barking in the video (and we get to see it a lot) it makes me laugh every time. Because the team are eventually getting to filming with the actors they've hired (as Penn points out, the mother and daughter Gary picked are kind of the same age - "It's some weird Mormon sister wife thing, which was creepy.")

After getting some acting advice (and discussion of out of body experiences) from Gary and doing a very good job pretending that they understand what he's saying, the actors get down to work ("If you have to fart, fart quick, but keep your energy up," Gary announces before filming begins.) But there's yet more conflict when Gary tries to move a cameraman and either just touches his hand or pushes him out of the way, depending on who you believe. Lisa tells him that was aggressive and to say sorry, starting another little argument with Gary. Eek!

Of course, Ivanka turns up at the most awkward time - right in the middle of filming, when everyone is annoyed (Penn and Lisa have basically given up - when Lisa warns that they need to keep shooting, Gary tells her not to yell.) Ivanka can tell right away that Penn and Lisa ain't pleased ("total chaos" is her term) and she too thinks that Gary is vomiting when he goes all mechanical dog. Still, she thinks Penn and Lisa have "checked out" and describes it as a risky strategy... Things just continue to take a bad turn in the editing suite, where Penn complains that they haven't got everything they need because of Gary's decisions. And Gary doesn't like all of the editing they're doing: "That's not fitting with my calibration in a tuning way," he says, baffling everyone. "If we were playing Russian roulette at least we'd have a chance," Penn sighs.

With the video done ("It is unexpected, no doubt about that," Penn tells Gary, graciously), it's time for the presentation. Gary opens up the presentation, while Penn impresses the exec by describing himself as an "early adopter". But the video is so bad and Penn admits that he has "no hope whatsoever". "We are going down," he sighs, repeating "down" about 15 times. Will Power do any better?

Power

To be honest, it feels hard to inject much tension into this episode given that Gary was barking like a sick dog for most of his team's time, but whatever. The techies show Power around the products (you know, basically an extended advert with Lil Jon trying to get some free products), and then James is here to speak with them about what LG wants from the video. With that done, the team quickly decides on Marilu playing a mother who knows how to use the technology better than her son, who's back from college. Simple - no arguments on Team Power about mechanical dogs!

Lil Jon takes charge of directing the video, but when Joan arrives she thinks he might be spending too long on the little things like the lighting ("You're not Alfred Hitchcock - get it in the can!") But seriously, this is like the closest we get to tension on boring old Team Power. They're even doing so well with filming that Trace can go to the editing suite early to get started on that. I mean, they're just too good for this to be entertaining, really. They even talk about how wonderful Marilu is at remembering her script and performing.

Oh wait - there is a little tension in the editing suite when Marilu gets a little worried about how she looks in the commercial and stressing over the details. But that's seriously it, and it's really nothing. At the presentation, Lil Jon is worried about what exec James might think (because he has a very stony face and doesn't give much away.) Really, though, we all know the outcome, don't we? I mean, we have a meeting with the exec James, who does his best to inject some tension into proceedings by suggesting there is a "lot to talk about" but please. Let's just get to the Boardroom!

The Boardroom

Donald begins with good news - LG was so impressed that each celebrity's charity will get a full suite of LG appliances. So that's nice, at least. But then it's down to business, beginning with Power. Jon thinks his team did "great", and they rave about the products a little (always a good idea.) Oh, and then there's a weird diversion while Donald talks about taking Marilu to Vegas to count cards (not the best idea, probably), before Trace gets involved to say Jon was good and he's pleased with their video. But there's bad news from Ivanka, who reveals that James thought Trace was a little under the radar during the whole task. Still, Trace is asked who he'd fire and eventually names Jon, just because he was the project manager. Though really, it's clear that he doesn't think either Jon or Marilu should be fired.

On the other side, Gary admits he felt "abandoned" by his team, saying he had "no positive reinforcement" from Penn or Lisa. He adds that he'd fire Lisa because she would yell at him during the task, though Lisa obviously disagrees with his account of the task. "I speak the truth - the truth requires no question," Gary hits back. Eventually, Ivanka intervenes, admitting that Penn and Lisa had basically checked out when she got there - though she suggests it could be because they no longer had an idea how to contribute. Penn admits that he'd tried to pitch three ideas which had been ignored, and adds that Lisa didn't get a say at all.

Of course, as this all continues (kind of going round in circles), Gary defends himself and insists he wasn't the criminal - he was abandoned by his team! Honest! We even get some talk about the mechanical dog - Lisa admits she didn't understand it, and Penn agrees that he didn't like it but vowed to support Gary and did from then on - though Gary disagrees. Ahh, it's all one thing after another. Penn says Gary just didn't like what he was saying. Eventually, we get to see the videos again so I get to laugh at Gary's mechanical dog one last time. Everyone else is confused, mind you - though Lil Jon is diplomatic and says the video hit on some points that their promo didn't. Mind you, Marilu and Donald are confused by Gary's 'wife' in the video saying that she likes "nature to take me" - are they heading for the bathroom or the bedroom?

After both videos have played, Gary says he thinks they are about even - which is a bad answer (Donald is not impressed.) Gary backtracks and suggests that he does think his team won, but it's no surprise when Donald eventually reveals the winner - and it's Power. I mean, I am shocked - shocked. Lil Jon's happy he won money for his charity, though!

Who's Going Home?

The final boardroom session begins as Ivanka reveals that James thought everyone was authentic in their appreciation for LG's products, and that he liked Penn saying he was an "early adopter". But he didn't like how few products were showcased and - no - he didn't like the mechanical dog (the joke just didn't land, apparently.) Donald wants to know if Gary should be fired, since he was responsible for the dog, but he again mentions the lack of support from his team. And he says Lisa yelled at him in front of everyone (he even does a demonstration to show what this sounded like, as Lisa insists she didn't yell. It's like 5-year-olds, seriously.)

Gary brings up the incident in which Lisa complained about his treatment of the cameraman, but it kind of backfires when Penn backs Lisa up and says it seemed like Gary pushed him away - not just touched his hand. And then Penn points out that Gary went to the other side of the room when the refrigerator was being explained to them (Gary flat out denies this, even though we all saw it.) He even suggests that Penn is lying to support Lisa and get him out! But when he says his team undermined him, Ivanka disagrees - she says they were trying to be supportive but didn't know how.

We seriously just kind of go over the same ground repeatedly - Gary says his team abandoned him, and complains about Lisa shouting at him ("I won't stand for it," Lisa complains.) Penn says his ideas weren't given a fair hearing, and suggests that Gary didn't want real advice - he wanted people to tell him his ideas were great. Obviously we all know what is happening and in the end Gary is fired. Once again - shocked.

In the car, Gary still complains that his team mates weren't working with him because they wanted him out. "But so what - I don't care," Gary adds. "I'm going home - yay!" So with Gary gone, we're down to our top five - but who knows what will happen next week?